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Don’t you just love Jarrod Bowen? West Ham fans have had absolutely nothing to get excited about this dreadful season, but our skipper stepped up to the plate this week while on international duty.

You could almost hear the collective roar of approval when Bowen’s first-touch England goal smacked into the Irish net at Wembley at the weekend.




Thirty seconds after coming on, Bowen lost all defenders in the box to crash home what was England’s fourth. We’ve all seen it, and I defy anyone not to have enjoyed the moment and been delighted for Bowen.

But that’s the point. This season has been a mess. We still have a lame duck coach who does not inspire players or fans. We have a constant supply of likely candidates to replace Julen Lopetegui being presented to David Sullivan, no doubt by every agent worth his salt, but of course our majority shareholder won’t sack him.

Is it because it will make him admit he’s made a big mistake? Is it because he believes the bullshit that the Spaniard can turn this shambles around in a few months? Is it because he won’t pay the £5m to get rid of the Spanish contingent?

Heaven knows, but we now seem to have half a side who want to leave, a summer transfer activity once hailed as a masterpiece by Tim Steidten that now looks anything but, and the only person to kick a ball with any accuracy is our boy Bowen.

You can’t help but love the fella. If Mills & Boon did football, it would be the Bowen story. A country boy up from the Welsh borders who battled through non-league and the Championship to become arguably David Moyes’ best signing.

Our boy has the perfect little family; a beautiful fiancée, lovely kids, TV star and slightly dodgy father-in-law to be, a long-term contract and future perfectly mapped out.

As for West Ham, I suppose things can’t get any worse when you are not playing and half your squad is miles away on international duty trying hard to distance themselves from the shambles back home. Michail Antonio being the exception.

He managed to lose his passport and couldn’t get into the USA without one. But Christmas time is approaching and at least he wasn’t crashing a Lambo while dressed as Santa. How does a grown-up, experienced traveller lose his passport, seriously?




So if you wanted a smile on your face, just for a few moments maybe, Bowen is your man. I suppose you could say that’s how bad our season has gone, clutching onto a moment of magic like that. What I really like about Bowen is his honesty, how humble he is, how genuine and grateful he is about his rise from Hereford to England goal star.

His interviews are so honest. He talked of how his dad cried when his lad got that first England call. Is there any father of a footballing son who doesn’t empathise with that emotion?

He explained his joy when that text from Gareth Southgate arrived on his phone and the next call was from the England media girl, making sure he knew how to get to St. Georges Park. He knew his place, part of a squad that had an abundance of forward talent. And he knuckled down, worked hard, and got his break. And now his first goal for England, “that I can tell me grandkids about.”

The interview as he walked from Wembley just summed up the pride. Cynics will doubt his words. But he meant them. The pride was obvious. By now in his career, other players would have heads so big they’d struggle to get through the dressing room door. I can’t see that in Bowen.

Maybe I’m seeing it wrong, that’s what they all say. But I don’t think so. He may even be a one-off in this money crazy days. Let’s hope so.

There have been doubts about him being given the West Ham captaincy. But it may have been early pressure with the team being crap, but he’s grown into it, he takes it seriously. Just like Mark Noble did.

But there are other issues. He could easily have scored a hat-trick in that 15 minutes on the pitch during which he found space, attacked defenders at pace, cut in from the right, linked with midfielders and full backs, got himself into the box with those penetrating runs and left you wondering exactly what Lopetegui is doing. Is he trying to change something that isn’t broken?

What Bowen is being asked to do in Loppy’s system is different from what he produced at Wembley. Analysts are talking in terms of long, angled, cross-field passes over the top and into space behind full backs, but that’s not Bowen’s style.




He likes to cut inside, attack defenders with possession. But he has Aaron Wan-Bissaka occupying this space now, and any sort of support and linking from a painfully slow midfield is almost non-existent.

Which brings us back to Lopetegui and, unfortunately, Tim the superman. It’s unravelling a bit. Mo Kudus wants out. He’s been hung out to dry by the coach who seems not to rate him, wants to be critical and has changed his position. He’s got himself banned and seems to lack that parental support he got from Moyes.

Let’s forget all that stuff about style of play for a moment. There’s more to management than a clipboard. Moyes, after over 1,000 games as manager runs a tight ship. On-field discipline was vastly better than now, players like Bowen bought into the system because it worked. I doubt Kudus would be so keen on leaving under a different manager.

Guido Rodriguez was recently criticised by Chris Sutton, a very decent player and spiky pundit, who used the expression “he can’t run” about the Argentinean. That’s professional shorthand for "he’s past it".

Sutton made the most of his talent, forged a partnership with Alan Shearer at Blackburn and won a title medal. He knows what he’s talking about and has the respect of his peers. Rodriguez has worked out he’s not good enough for the Premier League and wants to go back to Spain.

Carlos Soler is equally way off Premier League level and will surely be going back to PSG at the end of the season. Niclas Fullkrug has become an embarrassment; the injury is not his fault, but the decision of Steidten to gloss over the German’s injury record has caused this disaster.

So we still have the coach who certainly pushed for a couple of those disasters in charge as we face a drubbing at Newcastle and a likely repeat of the Arsenal result at the London Stadium in the next two games.

And amidst all this gloom Bowen lifts our hearts and gives us something to be cheerful about, You wonder when Sullivan will act to lift the club and end this slow death of a coach. I cannot see any other conclusion. You hope you are wrong, you hope for four points maybe from the next two games - but deep down..?

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